Last week, New York University’s Susie Linfield wrote in The Atlantic that the American left’s “venomous attacks on Israel qua Israel offer a seductively easy, morally antiseptic—and, I would add, appallingly self-absorbed—way to intervene in foreign affairs.” Although she didn’t mention me by name, I suspect I may be one of the leftists she considers guilty of these sins. Which is why I’m so pleased that she’ll join our Zoom call next Thursday (sorry, one more Thursday before we return to Fridays) at Noon ET. I believe in talking publicly, and respectfully, to people who hold different views, especially on Israel-Palestine. I’m glad Susie does too. Whatever your views, I hope you’ll join us.
In her Atlantic article, Susie Linfield quotes from conversations she's had with seven people:
1. Arnon Degani
2. Nissim Calderon
3. Benny Morris
4. Bernard Avishai
5. Gershom Gorenberg
6. Michael Walzer
7. Etan Nechin
Every one of them is Jewish. All except Walzer are also Israeli.
She also quotes some other named people, most of whom are deceased:
1. Karl Marx
2. Hannah Arendt
3. Arthur Koestler
4. Simha Flapan
5. Dan Diner
6. Isaac Deutscher
7. Zellie Thomas
8. George Orwell
All but the last two are Jewish.
Number of Palestinians quoted in this article? Zero.
The only sentence that even names any Palestinians is this one:
"A wide range of views exists among Arab Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories; the American left might at least notice that Arab Israeli leaders such as Ayman Odeh, the head of the Arab Joint List, and Palestinian leaders such as Marwan Barghouti, now imprisoned on multiple terrorism charges, both support a two-state solution."
In 2003 I cancelled my subscription to the Atlantic after it published Bruce Hoffman's June cover article, "The Logic of Suicide Terrorism", which was all about actions of Palestinians, and quoted a lot of people, but not a single Palestinian among them. The fact that this was allowed to happen in a respected magazine like the Atlantic was actually one of the reasons why I got interested in this issue in the first place.
Our media does us citizens a disservice (although probably a service to themselves!) when they don't clearly enumerate who's paying the pipers. Thanks for calling attention to this deficit. Relatedly, the media, especially prevalent in the withdrawal from Afghanistan hot mess, almost always fail to report that former-secretary or former-high-ranking-advisor so-and-so is now serving on the board of XYZ defense contractor. Again, who's paying the piper?
In her Atlantic article, Susie Linfield quotes from conversations she's had with seven people:
1. Arnon Degani
2. Nissim Calderon
3. Benny Morris
4. Bernard Avishai
5. Gershom Gorenberg
6. Michael Walzer
7. Etan Nechin
Every one of them is Jewish. All except Walzer are also Israeli.
She also quotes some other named people, most of whom are deceased:
1. Karl Marx
2. Hannah Arendt
3. Arthur Koestler
4. Simha Flapan
5. Dan Diner
6. Isaac Deutscher
7. Zellie Thomas
8. George Orwell
All but the last two are Jewish.
Number of Palestinians quoted in this article? Zero.
The only sentence that even names any Palestinians is this one:
"A wide range of views exists among Arab Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories; the American left might at least notice that Arab Israeli leaders such as Ayman Odeh, the head of the Arab Joint List, and Palestinian leaders such as Marwan Barghouti, now imprisoned on multiple terrorism charges, both support a two-state solution."
In 2003 I cancelled my subscription to the Atlantic after it published Bruce Hoffman's June cover article, "The Logic of Suicide Terrorism", which was all about actions of Palestinians, and quoted a lot of people, but not a single Palestinian among them. The fact that this was allowed to happen in a respected magazine like the Atlantic was actually one of the reasons why I got interested in this issue in the first place.
Our media does us citizens a disservice (although probably a service to themselves!) when they don't clearly enumerate who's paying the pipers. Thanks for calling attention to this deficit. Relatedly, the media, especially prevalent in the withdrawal from Afghanistan hot mess, almost always fail to report that former-secretary or former-high-ranking-advisor so-and-so is now serving on the board of XYZ defense contractor. Again, who's paying the piper?